When they ask, ‘Why did she quit?’

Q: We had a superstar here who quit because she couldn’t take the C-suite’s bad decision-making anymore. Now since I’m fairly high up the ladder, several people are asking me what happened. How much honesty can I afford here?

A: Well, you’ve got to give a little, because if it’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that employees make up their own stories when they’re denied information, and that’s never good. Tell them that she had philosophical differences with the company, and that building a career is all about finding the place where what you want aligns with what those above you want. Remind them that we all face a conflict like that at some point in our careers, and rarely is it a case of someone being right and another person being wrong. Make it a parable about their own lives and they’ll walk away feeling they got a good answer.